In a striking reversal of last year's performance, students from the state board have claimed the majority of top ranks in the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) for 2026, outperforming their CBSE counterparts. Among the top 10 ranks in engineering, only one CBSE student secured a position.
Results Announcement
The results were announced on Saturday by Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil at the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) office in Malleswaram. This year's trend stands in stark contrast to the previous year, when 45 CBSE students were among the top 100, including seven in the top 10. In 2026, only 19 CBSE students feature in the top 100, while 79 are from the Karnataka state board and one from the Telangana state board.
Shift in Dominance
Last year, CBSE students dominated the top 10 ranks across streams. However, this year, in veterinary sciences, yoga and naturopathy, and nursing, eight out of the top 10 positions are held by state board students. In agriculture, all top 10 ranks are from the state board. In B Pharm and Pharm D, three students are from CBSE.
Experts attribute this shift to lower scoring among CBSE students amid valuation controversies. Sridhar G, founder of Deeksha Vedantu, explained, "In PU, several students have secured full marks in Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology. In CBSE, not many would have achieved that mark. With these marks being considered for the calculation of CET ranks, it is not surprising that state board students had the edge over others." The best marks from II PU-1 and II PU-2 were utilized. Meanwhile, KEA stated that it does not consider revaluation marks, so even if CBSE students are awaiting revaluation results, they will not be used this year.
Bengaluru Leads in Toppers
Bengaluru continued to lead in all toppers' lists. The top three in engineering are from the capital city: Rank 1 Tanisha Karthik and Rank 3 Ninaad Vasisht from RV PU College, and Rank 2 Srajan B S from Deeksha-KMWA PU College. Among the top 10, six are from Bengaluru. In agriculture, two are from Bengaluru, and in other streams, Bengaluru has around four to five toppers in the first 10.
Website Traffic and Counselling
After the results were announced at 2 p.m., the KEA website experienced a temporary failure due to high traffic. KEA assured students that results would also be sent to their WhatsApp numbers. Counselling is scheduled to begin on June 10, with option entry allowed for four days. Seats for Medical, Dental, Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, and Unani courses will be allotted based on UGNEET-2026 marks. Separate counselling will be held for medical courses after NEET results and MCC counselling.
Minister Sharan Prakash Patil stated, "As NEET is getting delayed, we will go ahead with CET counselling first. However, seats of other courses including engineering that fall vacant after medical seat counselling will be allotted in subsequent rounds. Eligible candidates will be allowed to enter options. We have already spoken to the private engineering colleges association, and they have agreed to return documents and fees without delay in such cases."
Candidate Statistics
Out of 3,30,646 candidates who applied for CET, 3,09,014 appeared for the examination. A total of 11,51,367 OMR sheets (all four subjects) were uploaded to the KEA website in a record time of five days. The total number of eligible candidates is 2,92,782.
Eligible Candidates by Course
- Engineering: 282,603
- Agriculture, Sericulture & Food Science: 209,220
- Veterinary Science: 212,909
- B Pharma: 286,609
- Pharm D: 286,965
- BSc Nursing: 218,785
- BNYS (Yoga & Naturopathy): 212,730
- Agriculture Practical: 21,775
- BVSc Practical: 21,838
Top 3 Rank Holders by Stream
Engineering: Rank 1 Tanisha Karthik (RV PU College, Bengaluru), Rank 2 Srajan BS (KMWA PU College, Bengaluru), Rank 3 Ninaad Vasisht (RV PU College, Bengaluru).
Veterinary Science: Rank 1 Nayana Gopi (Base PU College, Bengaluru), Rank 2 Amulya S (Sir MVTU, Davanagere), Rank 3 Rithvik Kumar (RV PU College, Bengaluru).
Agriculture, Sericulture & Food Science: Rank 1 Ninaad Vasisht (RV PU College, Bengaluru), Rank 2 Anmol Prabhu (Arjuna Science PU College, Dharwad), Rank 3 Samay AS (Expert PU College, Mangaluru).
BSc Nursing: Rank 1 Nayana Gopi (Base PU College, Bengaluru), Rank 2 Amulya S (Sir MVTU, Davanagere), Rank 3 Rithvik Kumar (RV PU College, Bengaluru).
B Pharma: Rank 1 Nayana Gopi (Base PU College, Bengaluru), Rank 2 Amulya S (Sir MVTU, Davanagere), Rank 3 Suchita M (Sri Chaithanya PU College, Davanagere).
BNYS (Yoga & Naturopathy): Rank 1 Nayana Gopi (Base PU College, Bengaluru), Rank 2 Amulya S (Sir MVTU, Davanagere), Rank 3 Suchita M (Sri Chaithanya PU College, Davanagere).
Pharm D: Rank 1 Ninaad Vasisht (RV PU College, Bengaluru), Rank 2 Anmol Prabhu (Arjuna Science PU College, Dharwad), Rank 3 Samay AS (Expert PU College, Mangaluru).
